Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Dog Park 2: Marty Strikes Back

I've realized that with a middle name like Solo, this blog has had a severe lack of Star Wars references. I'll have to change that.

As I mentioned, Marty has now gone to two dog parks. The first was a fenced in affair with dogs he was unfamiliar with. He made some attempts at making friends, but mostly just ran around aimlessly, chasing balls, and sometimes chasing the group.

The second dog park was completely different. Meg extended an invite for a ride with her and Daisy for a park that was not fenced in. I'll admit, I was really nervous about Marty being off leash in a strange place with no fence. Meg and I both assumed that Marty would trot around a bit, but mostly stay near us. Man, were we in for a surprise.

Marty LOVED the freedom. The instant he was off leash, he started sniffing around. Having Daisy, a dog who he is familiar with and will initiate play time, was awesome. Within minutes they were both sprinting around chasing a ball. There was a stream nearby and we made our way over there. Again, Meg and I assumed Marty would wade around a bit, but not really go nuts.

NOPE. Marty charged in. He was swimming around, chasing the ball we were throwing and even jumping off rocks into the water.

All in all this was a fantastic experience. Marty and Daisy were sprinting around, playing with one another, with the couple of other dogs that were there, and generally just having a great time. We went on a short hike, maybe 10 min, where the dogs just kind of ran around in circles. Marty was pretty good about coming when I called, but after a few minutes I stopped worrying about his running off, since if he ever went too far, he'd come sprinting back.

Marty and Daisy were still full of energy when we got home, despite running around at full speed for about an hour. However, Marty was dead tired all day the next day.

I think a few friends and I are going to go have a picnic near the park this weekend and give him even more time to run around. I'll probably shoot Elmo's parents an email and see if they want to come.